Imagine the scenario; it’s roughly three months since the project was first commissioned, questionnaires have been carefully designed and translated, your customers and the market have been interviewed, hundreds of hours have been spent analyzing the data collected and it’s finally time for the final presentation.
It is a flagship moment of the project, but there’s a challenge… It has never been harder to get time in crucial stakeholders’ diaries and keeping everyone engaged for the precious 30 or 60 minutes that have been scheduled. Furthermore, getting buy in from a company’s C Suite and wider stakeholders can be difficult.
Here are 5 suggestions for delivering memorable insight presentations:
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“So what?”…
If you can’t answer this question for each slide that you’re planning to present, there’s probably a good argument that it shouldn’t be included. Each slide should add to the overall narrative and be linked to the business objectives that you are seeking to address. Realistically, on a good day, you should be able to cover roughly 30slides in a 60-minute slot with some time for questions.
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Consider your stakeholders
Not everything is relevant to everybody. If you have a broad range of stakeholders, it may make sense to run several shorter presentation sessions that are tailored to each audience. As we can only take in so much information, this approach provides you with an opportunity to share key actions and takeaways that will resonate best with each audience.
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Audience engagement
There are lots of different ways you can make presentations more interesting and engaging. For example, asking your audience what they think the answers to key questions or topics will be? Or, asking them to note down the two or three things that surprise them as they hear the key findings. Asking questions such as these creates conversation and ensures they remain engaged throughout.
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Use the online chat feature
Most presentations are virtual, and therefore it is difficult for the presenter to determine whether the content has been interpreted correctly and understood via facial expressions or other means. Furthermore, it may feel uncomfortable for the audience member to interrupt the presenter mid-flow and once the opportunity arises, the moment to ask a question has passed. At the start, invite the audience to use the chat to ask questions and someone else on the team can field questions and pause the presentation to address topics when needed.
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Someone can’t attend?
We are shorter for time than we ever have been, and we have therefore been asked the question “please can you send me the recording” many a time. In the case of market research, unless someone has a vested interest in it, it is unlikely that they’ll listen to the whole meeting recording. If someone can’t make the session, you will be a lot more likely to grab their attention through infographics or short videos sharing the key points following the meeting.
At B2B International, we are constantly challenging our approach and experimenting with new and innovative ways to ensure we deliver actionable insight to our clients, and deliver presentations that people remember for the right reasons.
